No other way to say it: Another fantastic regular season ends with a playoff choke.

The Green Bay Packers: Playing chess instead of playing checkers!

So normally I would wait until Monday to recap yet another playoff disaster but since it’s fresh and I’ve got an unopened bottle of Johnny Walker from my Father in Law: Let’s roll.

First things first: I can’t believe I’m saying this, but the defense was the only side of the ball that showed up. If you would have told me before the game that the defense would only give up 6 points I would have guessed the Packers won 31-6. Rashan Gary was a monster. Kenny Clark was a beast. Za’Darius Smith played for the first time since Week 1 and had an immediate impact. I guess you could nitpick the secondary and say that they left a few interceptions on the field, but man, the whole unit was incredible. It’s what makes the result all the more stunning.

Second: Aaron Rodgers stunk. He was 20/29 for 225 yards and had a QB rating of 91.9, so on paper he wasn’t horrible, but this is a guy that’s about to win his 4th MVP. He short armed throws, he missed throws, if he hits Aaron Jones in stride at the end of the first half it’s a touchdown, just a bad time for an MVP level player to be average. And look, I’m merely an internet blogger who’s half in the bag writing a blog about a tough loss suffered by the team I love, so I’m sure there’s more to it that just Rodgers, there’s protection (which was awful), wide receivers have to get open, the 49er defense was really good, etc. But the buck starts and stops with the highest paid player on the team and the presumptive MVP. The offense scored 10 points. Not nearly good enough.

Third, and related: Matt LaFleur stunk tonight. And I love Matt LaFleur. His career record has a lot to do with the reinvigoration of Rodgers, but he’s a head coach who’s gone 13-3, 13-3, and 13-4 in his first three seasons. Hard to get too upset about that. BUT; the team got steamrolled in the NFC Championship Game in 2019 and appeared unprepared to play, they had horrible mental lapses and questionable decisions late in the NFC Championship Game in 2020, and fell apart in the Divisional Round in 2021. The play-calling was uninspired and the whole offense looked tighter than the lid on the pickle jar that’s been sitting in your fridge since the last time this team won a Super Bowl.

Also: Sticking with Maurice Drayton as the Special Teams Coordinator despite the MILLION mistakes they made all year falls firmly on LaFleur. I’m all for sticking with your guys, I understand that mentality, I get that you don’t want to fire a guy who you picked and placed your trust in, but my God man, it was obvious all year that something like this was going to happen. But you stood by and let it happen. Week after week that side of the ball proved they were incapable of even being AVERAGE. And that’s all they needed them to be! An average special teams unit on the field tonight and the Packers are on to the NFC Championship Game. But they couldn’t even do that. -10 points from the part of the team that sees the field the least in a game you end up losing 13-10. It’s incomprehensible. And the cherry on top:

Jesus Christ Almighty. It probably wouldn’t have mattered anyway, but how, in the name of ZEUS’ BUTTHOLE, do you not have 11 men on the field with the season on the line. It’s INSANE how incompetent Drayton and the Special Teams were all season, and particularly tonight. ‘Drayton’ and ‘Bostick’ should be synonymous after tonight.

So…..where do we go from here? Two seasons in a row the team steamrolls through the regular season, earns the #1 seed, gets the bye, gets home field, and, pardon my French, shits the bed. Is Rodgers back? Is Adams Back? Do you want one without the other? Do you want either? Is it time to blow this thing up, give the keys to Jordan Love, suffer through the growing pains in hopes that eventually you get a team that gets back over the hump? I don’t know.

But it’s a tough spot. If Rodgers comes back, it’s likely that Adams is back, and it’s likely that the team wins 11-13 games and is back in the playoffs. But what gives you hope that the result will be any different in January of 2023 than it was tonight, or last year, or the year before that, or 2016, or 2014. Give the keys to Love, and it feels probable that Adams is gone. And if Love isn’t the guy, we’re headed for at LEAST 3-5 seasons of mediocre football (at BEST).

At the end of the day I think I want Rodgers back, primarily because Sunday’s are more fun when you expect/hope to win every game. But man, if he is back, those regular season wins next year are going to feel very hollow until you get back in the tournament and prove you can do it there.

PS: I know there are a lot of fans that think the bye is a bad thing, but the Packers record in Divisional Round games when they’ve had a first round bye was 6-1 going into tonight. Their only loss before this one was the devastating 2011 loss to New York.

Double PS: I think one of the hardest things to digest about this loss was how QUICK they came out. Did the lambada right down the field for a touchdown on the opening drive, Za’Darius gets a sack and the Niners go three and out, it felt like they were going to win 31-10. That Marcedes fumble really hurt on the 2nd offensive possession, but it is bananas that the offense did basically nothing for the rest of the night.

Triple PS: